Top Seeded Bridgewater State Captures Second Straight MASCAC Men's Basketball Tournament Championship With 74-70 Overtime Victory Over Second Seeded Framingham State

Feb 27, 2010

Courtesy Bridgewater State Sports
Information

BRIDGEWATER, Mass.
- The Bridgewater State College men's basketball team
captured their second straight Massachusetts State College Athletic
Conference (MASCAC) Tournament championship as the Bears downed the
Rams of Framingham State College in overtime, 74-70, this afternoon
in the conference title game at the Tinsley Center in Bridgewater.

The Bears (19-7) have won the
MASCAC Tournament title three times in the last five years and four
times overall. This marks the first time that BSC has
captured the championship at home as the three previous wins all
came on the road. Bridgewater will now advance to the NCAA
Division III Tournament for the fifth time in program
history. The previous four appearances came in 1983, 1999,
2006 and 2009. Last year's squad made it all the way to the
Sweet Sixteen.

"This was our goal at the beginning
of the season," said Bridgewater State Head Coach Joe Farroba.

"It's one thing to win a
championship, but once you are on top, everyone is giving you their
best effort," added the 18-year BSC skipper. "To do it
back-to-back is really special, and a testament to how hard these
kids work."

Bridgewater State senior point
guard Matt McLaughlin (Rochester, MA) earned
tournament MVP honors as he scored a game-high 25 points to go
along with six rebounds, three assists, a block and two steals in
the championship game.

Junior guard Corey
Connor (Providence, RI) added ten points for the host
Bears, while junior forward Judah Jackson
(Everett, MA) chipped in with 10 points and four boards before
fouling out with 4:18 remaining in the second half. Junior center
Samuel Johnson (North Chelmsford, MA) came off the
bench to add 8 points and 4 rebounds in 16 minutes.

The game was a back and forth
thriller that consisted of nine ties and twelve lead changes.
Framingham State came out of the gates strong, and over the first
twelve minutes developed a 23-14 lead thanks to a 12-0 run.
Trailing 27-18 with 5:18 left to play in the opening stanza,
Bridgewater answered with an 11-1 run, capped off by a Connor
three-pointer, to take a one-point lead (29-28) with 2:15 left in
the half. The Rams, however, outscored the Bears 6-2 over the
final two minutes to take a 34-31 advantage into the
intermission.

Neither team led by more than five points throughout the entire
second half. Trailing throughout most of the stanza,
Bridgewater finally took the lead on a Johnson layup with 6:13 left
to play. A Bill Carey (Abington, MA)
three-pointer followed by an Almodovar jumper gave the Rams a
four-point cushion at 52-48. McLaughlin answered with a
three-pointer to cut the deficit to one.

After a Roderick
Jackson (Cambridge, MA) layup put the Rams back up by
three with 2:44 remaining, a BSC three-pointer was off the mark and
the Rams grabbed the rebound and called timeout. BSC
sophomore guard Nathan Miller (New Bedford, MA)
then stole the inbounds pass and fed Johnson for an easy layup to
cut the deficit to one at 54-53. McLaughlin stole the ensuing
inbounds pass and then knocked down a three to put the Bears up
56-54 with 1:38 left to play.

Down two, Veal tied the game up on
a layup, and could have give the Rams the lead as he was fouled in
the act of shooting, but missed the free throw attempt.
Miller responded with a clutch three-pointer to give BSC the
59-56 advantage, but Yarrell answered on the other end of the with
a long three to knot the game up at 59-59 with 20 second
left. The teams exchanged turnovers in the final 20 seconds
and a very long McLaughlin three-point attempt was off the mark as
the buzzer sounded sending the teams into overtime.

McLaughlin opened the overtime
period with a driving layup which was answered by a Jackson
short-range jumper. After a BSC miss, Framingham junior
forward Brendan Carter (South Boston, MA) put in a
layup to give the Rams the 63-61 advantage. That lead was
short-lived as BSC senior center Chris Dijak
(Lunenburg, MA) tied the game up for the Bears on a layup off an
offensive rebound. The Bears then got a big stop on the defensive
end and Dijak connect on 1 of 2 free throws at the 1:53 mark to
give BSC the one-point lead at 64-63. Junior forward
Nicholas Motta (Fairhaven, MA) notched a big steal
which led to a McLaughlin layup as the Bears took control of the
game for good. Bridgewater would knock down eight free
throws, including six by McLaughlin, in the final 1:11 to come away
with the 74-70 victory.

"It was a total team effort," Said Farroba. "McLaughlin had a John
Stockton type of a performance, and refused to let his team loose."